Preliminary suggestions for a classification of nuculoid bivalves
A. Lee McAlester
It is suggested that nuculoid pelecypods show a primary evolutionary branching into two distinctive groups, and that two superfamily-level taxa, Nuculacea and Nuculanacea, represented by living Nuculidae and Nuculanidae, should be recognized. A specialized separated ligament pattern has probably been evolved independently within each group; thus, ligament pattern is an unsatisfactory criterion for basic phylogenetic subdivision, although it may be useful within each group. Most post-Paleozoic nuculoids can be clearly assigned; certain early Paleozoic nuculoids, however, do not resemble typical forms of either group and temporarily should be considered of uncertain higher affinities or assigned to an artificial superfamily.
This record provided courtesy of AGI/GeoRef.
